A few weeks before Andre Nocquet Shihan passed (2)…

So what space do we imagine we are studying this in? Because it’s all imagination. We don’t know O’Sensei. We don’t know him. And his students…well, I’ve heard, depending on who experienced what he did, just really black and white differences in what they tell us about him.

But I consider O’Sensei’s being like the Guru, the Light-Bringer… that’s why I do this.

I just get really bored with the whole martial, “Would it win in a bar-fight?”… you know, all the violence people try to add to it, which is like, to me, what children do: playing with sticks. Versus a swordsman, versus someone who’s practising the mandala of footwork…

The fact that you don’t murder someone with your spiritual study is not a weakness.

And this is the falling into degradation of an age where… Shmuel-san, I’m sure you can understand this, particularly… you read writings from these very old traditions, very well known people who – if you take just a minute to step back – there were no street-lights there were no political groups, there’s no Facebook, there’s none of the pressure to be popular… it was like deepness… and they were doing it because it was the only thing that it made sense to do. It was a love. The deepest thing a person on their own, utilizing what has been written, exists, and listening to other teachers… your deepest attempt to make contact with the universe.